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Michael Morpurgo
Description Michael Andrew Bridge Morpurgo is an English author, poet, playwright, and librettist. He is best known for his children's books. He was Children's Laureate from 2003 to 2005, and was award the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2006. He mainly writes historical fiction, adventure and real-life based novels. Reader's Reviews 1 Please add your review here. The Butterfly Lion is a heart-felt story and begins with a young school boy who is being bullied at boarding school. He decides to runs away and is found by an old lady who makes him welcome and she retells a fascinating story. The book transports the reader on a journey from England, to the plains of South Africa and on into the French trenches of World War 1 and back to England. The story is about a lonely child called Bertie who lives in Africa and is confined to his farm, to keep him safe from wild animals such as lions, leopards and elephants. However, under tragic circumstances he befriends an orphaned white lion cub and over the years they build up a strong and lovely friendship. The two are inseparable until Bertie is sent to school in England and the white lion is sold to a circus owner from France. Before they leave to go on their separate journeys Bertie makes a promise to the lion that he will always remember him and one day will find him. The story continues following Bertie growing up and his secret friendship with a young girl. Until War comes and Bertie goes off to France……… What happens to Bertie in the war? Will he be a hero? Does he find his white lion? What is the butterfly lion? The book is really well written and takes unexpected turns and with a twist at the end which is bittersweet. I would recommend this book to children aged 9 and above, especially who like stories about animals and are sentimental. Parental Guidance *Reading age: 10+ (in general) *Read aloud age: 9+ (in general) Some novels are sad and very moving. List of books *''It Never Rained: Five Stories'' (1974) *''Living Poets'' (compiler with Clifford Simmons) (1974) *''Long Way Home'' (1975) *''Thatcher Jones'' (1975) *''The Story-Teller'' (compiler with Graham Barrett) (1976) *''Friend or Foe'' (1977) *''Do All You Dare'' (1978) *''What Shall We Do with It?'' (1978) *''All Around the Year'' (with Ted Hughes) (1979) *''Love at First Sight'' (1979) *''That's How'' (1979) *''The Day I Took the Bull By the Horn'' (1979) *''The Ghost-Fish'' (1979) *''The Marble Crusher and Other Stories'' (1980) *''The Nine Lives of Montezuma'' (1980) *''Miss Wirtle's Revenge'' (1981) *''The White Horse of Zennor: And Other Stories from below the Eagle's Nest'' (1982) *''War Horse'' (1982) *''Twist of Gold'' (1983) *''Little Foxes'' (1984) *''Why the Whales Came'' (1985) *''Words of Songs'' (libretto, music by Phyllis Tate) (1985) *''Tom's Sausage Lion'' (1986) *''Conker'' (1987) *''Jo-Jo, the Melon Monkey'' (1987) *''King of the Cloud Forests'' (1988) *''Mossop's Last Chance'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1988) *''My Friend Walter'' (1988) *''Albertine, Goose Queen'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1989) *''Mr. Nobody's Eyes'' (1989) *''Jigger's Day Off'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1990) *''Waiting for Anya'' (1990) *''And Pigs Might Fly!'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1991) *''Colly's Barn'' (1991) *''The Sandman and the Turtles'' (1991) *''Martians at Mudpuddle Farm'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1992) *''The King in the Forest'' (1993) *''The War of Jenkins' Ear'' (1993) *''Arthur, High King of Britain'' (1994) *''Snakes and Ladders'' (1994) *''The Dancing Bear'' (1994) *''Blodin the Beast'' (1995) *''Mum's the Word'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1995) *''Stories from Mudpuddle Farm'' (with Shoo Rayner) (1995) *''The Wreck of the Zanzibar'' (1995) *''Robin of Sherwood'' (1996) *''Sam's Duck'' (1996) *''The Butterfly Lion'' (1996) *''The Ghost of Grania O'Malley'' (1996) *''Farm Boy'' (1997) *''Cockadoodle-doo, Mr Sultana!'' (1998) *''Escape from Shangri-La'' (1998) *''Joan of Arc'' (1998) *''Red Eyes at Night'' (1998) *''Wartman'' (1998) *''Kensuke's Kingdom'' (1999) *''The Rainbow Bear'' (1999) *''Wombat Goes Walkabout'' (1999) *''Billy the Kid'' (2000) *''Black Queen'' (2000) *''Dear Olly'' (2000) *''From Hereabout Hill'' (2000) *''The Silver Swan'' (2000) *''Who's a Big Bully Then?'' (2000) *''More Muck and Magic'' (2001) *''Out of the Ashes'' (2001) *''Toro! Toro!'' (2001) *''Cool!'' (2002) *''Mr. Skip'' (2002) *''The Last Wolf'' (2002) *''The Sleeping Sword'' (2002) *''Gentle Giant'' (2003) *''Private Peaceful'' (2003) *''Sir Gawain and the Green Knight'' (2004) *''I Believe in Unicorns'' (2005) *''The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips'' (2005) *''Albatross'' (2006) *''It's a Dog's Life'' (2006) *''Alone on a Wide, Wide Sea'' (2006) *''Beowulf'' (2006), illustrated by Michael Foreman *''Born to Run'' (2007) *''The Mozart Question'' (2007) *''Hansel and Gretel'' (2008) *''This Morning I Met a Whale'' (2008) *''Kaspar: Prince of Cats'' (2008) *''The Voices of Children'' (2008) (play) *''The Birthday Book'' (editor, with Quentin Blake) (2008) *''Running Wild'' (2009) *''Mudpuddle Farm: Six Animal Adventures'' (with Shoo Rayner) (2009) *''The Kites Are Flying!'' (publication due November 2009) *''An Elephant in the Garden'' (2010) *''Not Bad for a Bad Lad'' (2010) *''Shadow'' (2010) *''Little Manfred'' (2011) *''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'' (2011) *''Sparrow: The True Story of Joan of Arc'' (2012) *''Outlaw: The Story of Robin Hood'' (2012) *''Homecoming'' (2012) *''Wherever My Wellies Take Me'' (with Clare Morpurgo) (2012) *''A Medal For Leroy'' (2012) External links *Michael Morpurgo's official website References Category:Authors Category:Adventure Category:Michael Morpurgo Category:Age 9 Category:Age 10 Category:Age 11 Category:Age 12 Category:Age 13 Category:Articles with an excess of redlinks